Re: Speed up your .308 Reloading Process
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: kstraughen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I have a question about FL resizeing and re forming the mouth of the case. does this happen when you de prime the case if not then how do you get rid of the out of round case mouth. just trying to figure this stuff out. Thanks ahead of time.
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Short answer, yes.
AFAIK, all full length sizing dies have an expander ball on the decapping rod just above the decapping pin (on some decapping rods -- maybe all -- the ball is removable/replaceable}. The mouth of the fireformed case was expanded to match your rifle's throat and is too large to seat a bullet in. When you push the fired case into the FLS die for decapping (depriming), it first inserts the decapping rod with expander ball on it through the case mouth. Then the die squeezes the neck down to a diameter smaller than the expander ball. Somewhere between those two actions, depending on how you have your decapping rod adjusted, the decapping pin will push out the spent primer.
When you withdraw the case from the die, you pull the expander ball out through the undersized case mouth. The ball pushes the mouth back open, uniforming it and expanding it to the same diameter as the ball, which also is the proper size for seating a bullet. This also explains why you should lube inside your case mouths before FLS.
The Lee collet neck sizing die, OTOH, uses a mandrel in the place of the decapping rod (although it still does the decapping). When you push the brass into the die, the collets pinch the brass against the mandrel, which simultaneously uniforms the case mouth and makes it the correct diameter. Since it doesn't undersize the neck and then expand it to the correct diameter -- like a FLS die -- it works the brass less, which is good for case life. It also uniforms the OD of the case neck and reduces runout, as well as eliminating the need for lubing the case mouth. Some demanding shooters find they still need to turn the case neck to get a uniform OD with minimal runout but most folks I know are satisfied with what the Lee die turns out.
The drawback to neck sizing is that it doesn't control case body length so you'll need to FLS or bump the shoulder back in a body die (which leaves the neck alone) when the body stretches enough that the bolt gets hard to close. I think some folks have a method for shoulder bumping with a FL die but I haven't tried it.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bigdog2084</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Does the spray case lube work? </div></div>
Dillon's spray case lube isn't an aerosol, it's lanolin dissolved in alcohol in a pump spray bottle. I make my own by putting about 1/4 oz of 100%
lanolin hand cream I get at the drugstore into 12 ozs of
91% rubbing alcohol. Use 3/4 oz of lanolin if you're lubing case mouths. It's cheap and I find it works better than any aerosol I've tried, and any other lube period except for Imperial die wax.
